Vive l’euro!: Sarkozy at Davos

Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, defended the integrity of the euro currency at the World Economic Forum in Davos, by asserting that neither his country nor Germany will permit it to fail.

Whether it be [Germany’s] Chancellor Merkel or myself, never will we turn our backs on the euro. Never will we abandon the euro, he said.

While he acknowledged fears about the euro’s future in the wake of massive financial bailouts provided to Ireland and Greece, Sarkozy warned that speculators who bet against the euro would likely suffer major losses.

The euro spells Europe,” he declared. “The euro is Europe and Europe has spelled sixty years of peace on our continent, therefore we will never let the euro go or be destroyed.”

In the face of many calls for the dismantling of the euro, or of pleas to allow the weaker members of the euro zone to be allowed to fail, Sarkozy responded that “to imagine that we might pull out shows a complete misunderstanding of the European psychology. It has to do with our identities as Europeans.”

With France now holding the presidency of the G20, Sarkozy wants to negotiate an agreement on currency reform, i.e., a new international monetary system to supplant the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944. However, the U.S. rejects any measure that would undermine the dollar. Sarkozy assured the Americans that he would never harm her currency.

The dollar will continue to be the world's number one currency, he said.